USHow the government shutdown hurts fraud victims

02:30 13 january 2019

02:30 13 january 2019 Source:
nbcnews.com

Trump’s disapproval rating higher since shutdown began: poll

President Trump's disapproval rating has increased since the beginning of the ongoing government shutdown, according to a new poll. A CNN poll published Sunday found that Trump's disapproval rating is at 57 percent, up 5 points from December. The ongoing partial government shutdown began Dec. 22. The poll also found that his approval rating is at 37 percent, roughly the same it was last month. Respondents also indicated that a majority of the public blames Trump for the shutdown, rather than Democrats. According to the poll, 55 percent of respondents said Trump is to blame for the shutdown and 32 percent said Democrats are mostly to blame.

The shutdown of nonessential functions did hurt people, however, often in ways that aren’t readily apparent. Here are a few people and groups “For every week that the government shutdown continues, ten children with cancer will not be able to begin their clinical trials” is how ABC News put it.

Please stop calling it a government shutdown . “ shutdowns ” are the purist, most public distillation of class warfare we have. One party cravenly starves what little safety net there is while govt that serves the war machine & rich remains unchanged and it’s treated by the media as a “LOL there goes

A couple of days after Christmas, Louette Duvall was chatting with a customer outside her Sacramento, California, eyeglass shop when a security guard asked if she knew that someone was going through her car parked nearby.

The men were thieves, and by the time she realized what was happening, they'd taken off with her handbag and briefcase and everything inside: credit cards, checkbooks, business and Social Security documents, her address book and her mail, she said.

Realtors Say the Government Shutdown Is Sinking Home Sales

The U.S. housing market, already losing steam, is taking another hit from the government shutdown, delaying closings and damaging buyer confidence, according to a National Association of Realtors survey. About 20 percent of 2,211 agents surveyed by the group said they had clients who were impacted in some way by the shutdown that began on Dec. 22, the organization said today. Among those that reported problems, 9 percent said clients who were federal employees had held back from buying, while 25 percent said buyers pulled out simply because of “economic uncertainty,” according to the report.

But a government shutdown , which could happen on Friday if Congress does not pass a resolution to keep it open, would not stop Although this provision is for both the active duty and civilian sides of the military. So soldiers fighting in Afghanistan will proceed as usual should the government shut down

Government Shutdown 2019, 2018, and 2013 Explained. Why the Government Shut Down and What Happens Next. In past shutdowns , Congress has reimbursed federal employees for lost wages. Here is a breakdown of how many workers in each department were furloughed

For the next few days, Duvall, 67, a widow, scrambled to freeze or close her bank accounts and alert her credit card companies as fraudulent charges appeared. Then she began thinking about how the criminals could use information about her to do further damage, like create bogus credit cards and checkbooks to buy things in her name, or file a false tax return to reap a bogus refund.

So she dialed the Federal Trade Commission, where she hoped to file a complaint and seek help on how to contain her losses.

No one picked up.

She visited the FTC's identity theft website, identitytheft.gov, and found this message:

"Due to the government shutdown, we are unable to offer this website service at this time."

Duvall fumed.

"It was like I can't stop it and my government is not there to help," she recalled.

More than 42,000 immigration hearings canceled due to shutdown: Report

An estimated 42,726 immigration court hearings have been canceled as a result of the partial government shutdown, which has lasted for more than three weeks, according to a new report.

A government shutdown locks people out from accessing their government , and federal workers are being locked out from performing their jobs on the behalf of the We need to spend less time talking about a needless shutdown and more time figuring out how to end sequestration in 2014 in its entirety.

From government -backed loans to consumer confidence, here's how the federal government 's fiscal standoffs will affect the housing market. The government shutdown is here. Whether it's not being able to get a new Social Security card or visit a national park, Americans will immediately feel the

Some identity theft victims took to social media to complain about the lack of help available from the FTC. A Washington Post columnist wrote about her experience. It is impossible to know how many calls of identity theft have gone unanswered during the shutdown, but FTC data suggests that it typically receives thousands of complaints of identity theft per week.

An FTC spokesperson could not be reached for comment Friday; the FTC's public affairs office was closed.

Identity theft services are one piece of the FTC's suspended operations. Its Do Not Call Registry is offline, as is the Consumer Sentinel Network, which helps law enforcement agents track identity fraud and other consumer complaints.

Meet the government shutdown's forgotten victims

Tens of thousands of employees are feeling the pain — they work for private contractors that haven't received over &dollar;5 billion in federal payments.

“The U.S. government could shut down later this week and that could spell trouble for investors in “Stocks failed to hold strong gains Tuesday as the possibility of a government shutdown loomed “We were victims of a phony tax return filing last year. We filed individual returns in early March using

With the House and Senate at a stalemate on the first day of the government shutdown , it's unclear how long the proverbial "Closed" signs will hang From veterans to Head Start to individuals on welfare, read below to see how many of the nation's most vulnerable populations are affected by the

"You can't put information in, you can't get anything out, and so the bottom line is the FTC is not currently able to help consumers or law enforcement agencies with identity theft issues," said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection and privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, an association of nonprofit consumer groups.

While the FTC doesn't intervene on a victim's behalf directly, it offers step-by-step advice on how to handle their particular circumstance, and it allows them to file a complaint, which generates an affidavit they can use to alert credit agencies and financial institutions.

That's crucial in cases of identity theft, in which the quicker a victim responds, the easier it is to repair the damage, experts say.

"Most people really don't know what to do and how to clear up the problem and minimize the risk of further problems. So they need advice from somebody. The FTC is a great resource for that," Grant said. (The FTC's website still contains general information and advice about identity fraud.)

In response to the FTC's shutdown, other organizations have stepped up. One is the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center. Experts have pointed out that victims can also seek help from state and local consumer-protection agencies.

Duvall thinks highly of the FTC because it responded quickly to a fraud complaint she made a few years ago.

"They watch out for you. They protect you. That's why I reached out to them," she said. "And now I can't tell them anything."

GoFundMe launches campaign for government workers hit by shutdown.
People have frequently used GoFundMe to lend a helping hand to others in need of some help, but the site itself is getting involved in light of the US government shutdown.

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